Hanh Tien Tran, is a Vietnamese-American comedian, actress, and writer. She is best known for her role as Ellen in the comedy series '' How I Met Your Father'' (2022) and Lucy in the comedy series '' Mr. Throwback'' (2024).

Early life

Tran was born in

Chester, Pennsylvania Chester is a city in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located in the Philadelphia metropolitan area (also known as the Delaware Valley) on the western bank of the Delaware River between Philadelphia and Wilmington, Delaware. ...

and grew up in Erie and Millcreek Township. Her parents are Vietnamese refugees who immigrated to the United States in 1979. She graduated from

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private university, private Catholic Jesuits, Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic Religious order (Catholic), religious order, t ...

with a degree in biology, where she was part of the

sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches" or, "skits", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. While the form developed and became popular in ...

group Hello Shovelhead.

Career

In 2017, she was a cast member at

The Second City The Second City is an improvisational comedy enterprise. It is the oldest improvisational theater troupe to be continuously based in Chicago, with training programs and live theaters in Toronto and New York. Since its debut in 1959, it has b ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, where she had previously been a recipient of the Second City's Bob Curry Fellowship. During 2017–2020, she appeared in guest roles in several TV series, including '' Easy'', ''

Hot Date ''Hot Date'' is an American comedy television series created by, and starring, Emily Axford and Brian K. Murphy. The series premiered on Pop on November 8, 2017. On January 30, 2019, the series was renewed for a second season which premiered o ...

'', '' Sherman's Showcase'', and ''

Space Force A space force is a military branch of a nation's armed forces that conducts military operations in outer space and space warfare. The world's first space force was the Russian Space Forces, established in 1992 as an independent military service. ...

''. In 2021, she was a staff writer for the second season of ''

Work in Progress Work in process or work-in-process, (WIP), work in progress (WIP), goods in process, or in-process inventory refers to a company's partially finished goods waiting for completion and eventual sale, or the value of these items. The term is used in ...

'', and co-wrote and appeared in one episode. She also appeared in the Chicago-set horror film '' Candyman'' and an episode of the comedy series '' South Side''. In 2021, Tran was cast as a series regular in the

Hulu Hulu (, ) is an American Subscription business model, subscription streaming media service owned by Disney Streaming, a subsidiary of the Disney Entertainment segment of the Walt Disney Company. It was launched on October 29, 2007, initially as ...

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

'' How I Met Your Father'', a spin-off of the series ''

How I Met Your Mother ''How I Met Your Mother'' (often abbreviated as ''HIMYM'') is an American sitcom created by Craig Thomas (screenwriter), Craig Thomas and Carter Bays for CBS. The series, which aired from September 19, 2005, to March 31, 2014, follows main char ...

''. She plays Ellen, who moves to New York from a small farming town in Iowa after divorcing her wife. The series aired for two seasons from 2022 to 2023. In 2024, she appeared in a recurring role in the

Peacock Peafowl is a common name for two bird species of the genus '' Pavo'' and one species of the closely related genus '' Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae (the pheasants and their allies). Male peafowl are referred t ...

comedy series '' Mr. Throwback''. Tran is a regular contributor to the feminist podcast ''Hysteria'', hosted on

Crooked Media Crooked Media is an American progressive political media company. It was founded in 2017 by Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, and Tommy Vietor, all former top Barack Obama staffers and co-hosts of the '' Keepin' It 1600'' podcast. Dan Pfeiffer, also a ...

. In 2023, she co-hosted the podcast ''In These Cleats'' with

Angel City FC Angel City Football Club is an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Los Angeles, California, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). The formation of the team was announced on July 21, 2020; it beg ...

defender Paige Nielsen, which launched during the

2023 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup was the ninth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international women's association football, football championship contested by List of women's national association football teams, women's nat ...

and covered women's soccer. Since 2024, she has co-hosted the

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...

and

women's sports Women and girls have participated in sports, physical fitness, and exercise throughout history. However, the extent of their involvement has varied depending on factors such as country, time, geographical location, and level of economic develo ...

-focused podcast ''Jockular'' with

E. R. Fightmaster Emmett Rogers Fightmaster (born 8 June 1992), known professionally as E. R. Fightmaster, is an American non-binary actor, producer, and writer. Fightmaster is known for their work on ''Grey's Anatomy'' as Dr. Kai and through their solo music pr ...

and Katie Kershaw.

Filmography

Film

Television

Personal life

Tran is openly

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

. Tran's older sister Tram-Anh Tran starred in the 1990s

children's television series Children's television series (or children's television shows) are Television show, television programs designed specifically for Child, children. They are typically characterised by easy-going content devoid of sensitive or adult themes and are ...

Ghostwriter A ghostwriter is a person hired to write literary or journalistic works, speeches, or other texts that are credited to another person as the author. Celebrities, executives, participants in timely news stories, and political leaders often h ...

''.

References

External links

Tien Tran
at

IMDb IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

American television actresses American women comedians Actresses from Pennsylvania 21st-century American actresses 21st-century American comedians American people of Vietnamese descent Living people Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences alumni Comedians from Pennsylvania American LGBTQ people of Asian descent American lesbian writers American lesbian actresses Lesbian comedians LGBTQ people from Pennsylvania Year of birth missing (living people) American LGBTQ comedians {{US-comedian-stub